Accused murderer's bail reduced

A judge on Friday cut the bail of a Morris County man accused of pushing his wife off a cliff 16 years ago in Englewood Cliffs.

Stephen Scharf's bail is now $1 million – down from $1.5 million – a reduction that his attorney said will have little consequence because he still cannot post that amount.

Scharf's attorney, Edward Bilinkas, argued in Superior Court in Hackensack that his client cannot post anything more than $150,000 because prosecutors have seized most of his assets as part of the murder investigation.

Scharf was arrested in December and charged with killing his wife in September 1992 to collect a $700,000 life insurance policy. His accounts have since been frozen because prosecutors believe they are the proceeds of the insurance money he obtained from his wife's death.

Jody Scharf fell off a cliff to her death near the Rockefeller Lookout in Englewood Cliffs. Her husband reported the death, saying his wife slipped and fell. But he remained a suspect because Jody Scharf had filed for divorce shortly before her death, and that her husband stood to benefit from a life insurance policy.

Bilinkas said his client's $1.5 million bail was excessive, considering that Scharf has lived all his life in New Jersey and did not flee despite being aware that he was a suspect at the time.

"They [the prosecutors] knew about this for 16 years," Bilinkas said. "For the last 16 years, they have not even had enough evidence to arrest him."

Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Wayne Mello argued that Scharf's bail should remain at $1.5 million because there is a likelihood that he will be convicted of murder in a trial.

"In the context of a marriage falling apart… the defendant takes out an insurance policy on the life of [Jody Scharf]," Mello said.

Mello said Stephen Scharf forged his wife's signature on the insurance policy, and after his wife died, he did not immediately take out the money even though he had a 10-year-old son to take care of.

Instead, Stephen Scharf waited for years to take the money, he said. "His son, now 20-plus years of age, never sees a penny," Mello said.

Mello also said the case was reviewed by Michael Baden, the celebrity forensic expert, who concluded that Jody Scharf's death was a murder.

Bilinkas, however, said Baden's conclusion is based on the same evidence that prosecutors have, which until a few months ago has been deemed insufficient to even arrest Stephen Scharf.